Expert Economy Insider Report
What you’ll find inside
How having millions of followers doesn’t equate to success
How community plays a big role in your business
How to choose the right tools for your business
How to sustain and grow your revenue further
How having millions of followers doesn’t equate to success
How community plays a big role in your business
How to choose the right tools for your business
How to sustain and grow your revenue further
Copyright Thinkific 2025
Copyright Thinkific 2023
Copyright Thinkific 2025
We uncovered what high earners do differently. Discover how leading experts — like consultants, trainers, coaches, and subject matter experts — scale and make over $100K per year from their online learning business.
LEARN FROM THE BEST
About your host
Chef Amanda Schonberg
Award-winning baker, speaker, and Founder at Baking For Business
Nina has over four years of digital marketing experience and has spent the past three years meticulously studying and helping to facilitate the launch of thousands of digital learning products.
Running weekly educational webinars at Thinkific, Nina specializes in offering tools and actionable insights to help experts and business owners across any niche feel empowered to build and scale their online business—without sacrificing their time or sanity.
Nina Skaaning
Content Marketing Specialist @ Thinkific
Expert Economy Insider Report
of high-earning respondents have less than 10K followers
of high-earning respondents host online webinars and events for their audience
70%
of high-earning respondents provide exclusive content to their audience
43%
67%
Research methods: We surveyed more than 700 business owners who have monetized their knowledge through education, training, content creation, or coaching.
Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to audience size
In fact, hypertargeted and highly-engaged small audiences are the most successful when it comes to selling. Focus less on getting your posts to go viral, but instead work on humanizing your brand and fostering a stronger connection with your audience.
Learning 1
Communities drive retention and revenue
Connection is key — and it doesn’t have to be hard. Having a space for discussion, experimentation, and inspiration is what your customers want to naturally do. Take it a step further by offering exclusive content to generate more income and
deepen that brand-customer relationship.
Learning 2
The right tools can make or break your day-to-day
The top five most important types of software, ranked by high earners: Communities, calendar booking, social media management, newsletter platforms, membership platforms, and digital product platforms.
Learning 3
It’s not about what you know — it’s about how you share it
How can your business grow? How about shipping more information, more content, more products? The answer is: No, not necessarily. Growth is essential, but staying aligned to your core purpose and audience is how your business moves forward.
Learning 4
Legal disclaimer
Thinkific assumes no obligation to update the report following publication in any form or format. The report should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors and/or clients when making investment and other business decisions. While Thinkific has obtained information from sources it believes to be reliable, Thinkific does not perform an audit and undertakes no duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.
“They’re able to process their discussion questions which not only keeps them engaged but fosters a deeper sense of community. They get close to each other, they build relationships — ultimately, I’ve just been creating space for them to do what they would naturally do anyway.”
- Alua Arthur, New York Times Bestseller and founder of Going with Grace on the power of communities
43%
of high-earning respondents have less than 10K followers
67%
70%
of high-earning respondents host online webinars and events for their audience
of high-earning respondents provide exclusive content to their audience
Research methods: We surveyed more than 700 business owners who have monetized their knowledge through education, training, content creation, or coaching.
We uncovered what high earners do differently. Discover how leading experts — like consultants, trainers, coaches, and subject matter experts — scale and make over $100K per year from their online learning business.
“They’re able to process their discussion questions which not only keeps them engaged but fosters a deeper sense of community. They get close to each other, they build relationships — ultimately, I’ve just been creating space for them to do what they would naturally do anyway.”
- Alua Arthur, New York Times Bestseller and founder of Going with Grace on the power of communities
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